Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rhulani Mokwena believes his charges have done enough to deserve being crowned the champions of the inaugural African Football League (AFL) trophy.

The South African giants will face Waydad Casablanca in Sunday’s return match at Loftus Versfeld. The Moroccan club won the first leg 2-1 last Sunday at home and are carrying the slim advantage heading into the clash.

“Last season, we were clearly the best team in the CAF Champions League and it is unfortunate that we never made it to the final,” Mokwena told the media ahead of the final, adding: “Furthermore, our players have worked hard, shown loyalty to each other and they deserve to win this trophy.”

He continued: “It is going to be a difficult game considering that it will be our first major final since 2016. We are up against a team that has been in the last two Champions League finals as well as the last seven Champions League semi-finals.”

According to statistics provided by CAFOnline, Sundowns have won just one of their last six encounters against Wydad (D4 L1), scoring just four goals, and conceding twice in each of the last two games (D1 L1) and they have never lost a home match against Wydad, alternating between a win and a draw in their six such games against the Moroccan side (W3 D3).

Meanwhile, the last two matches between Sundowns and Wydad have seen an average of 3.5 goals per game (2-1 in the first leg and 2-2 in the Champions League in May), after the first 11 games between the two sides saw an average of just 1.2 (13 goals in total).